Vivian Maupin Long's Photo Album: Lee and Louise

 Several years ago, I inherited my grandmother's photo album always intending to share the photos on this web site, but it was shoved in a bin stored under a chair because "life" happened.  Recently a cousin came over and I showed him the album.  So, before I put it away again here are some photos.  I believe all of the outdoor photos where when the Longs went to Arkansas to meet the Wickers before (after?) Mother (Arky/Louise) and Dad (Lee) were married.
Amendment:  I'm going to say AFTER they were married judging from the trees in Arkansas---looks like October or November and they were married in September (having known each other just 6-8 weeks I believe)

Lee, Vivian and Roy Long

"Lee"---love the look if you enlarge this.

Billie and Louise

Two Grandmothers: Macy and Matty

Macy Alice Williams

I re-arranged some furniture yesterday to get to a file drawer.  Inside the drawer, I found a notebook in which I had made various notes including one entitled "Two Grandmothers".  It was actually about my mother's grandmothers Macy Alice Williams and Martha Sollis.  These were notes I'd taken after talking to my mother.

I think Mother was pondering on how similar their lives were but with such a difference in outcome.  Both women were reportedly twins, but we think their twins died at birth. They grew up in what we would call dysfunctional families.  Macy's father left the children to be raised by the oldest child, Sam (20), when their mother died.  I'm not sure what happened to Matty's father, but her mother is in 1880 census as a widow with 2 young children (9 and 5) while Matty was working as a servant in someone's home at 13 years old in another town.

Martha (Matty) Sollis
and Vennie Watson

They were both widows with young children.  Macy's husband died before my grandfather was born and Matty's husband died when my grandmother was a toddler.  Both husbands died from horse accidents----knowing the family history, I believe both were racing horses.  Both women re-married shortly afterwards to possibly abusive husbands.

At this point their stories begin to diverge.  When Grandpa didn't "get along" with his step father, he was sent to live with relatives.  Macy had the advantage of having a lot of family nearby so Grandpa had a variety of family to live with.

Matty, on the other hand, became mentally ill and was sent to Farmington Mental Hospital.  Grandma was put in foster care.

Back to Mom's notes----both women received support and strength from their Methodist churches in southeast Missouri's bootheel.  Macy became stronger with the support of the church and had 2 sons who became preachers (Grandpa's half brothers)

Matty was broken, but received support from her church in that they took my grandmother in and helped raise her.  One of the families was Macy's brother's family:  Maggie and Martin Luther Williams.

Mother concluded that these two women "molded her outlook".  Mother frequently donated to the Methodist church which had supported both women and to a Women's Shelter in Warren County, Mo. which provided a place for women to go in abusive situations.  Mother believed that she needed to help others who might have been like Macy and Matty.  By donating to these organizations, she hoped that her money would make a difference in someone's life, and they would become stronger like Macy.

Ancestry Thru-lines

Ancestry.com has been rolling out a wonderful tool called "Thru-lines".  It combines DNA with family trees and sometimes projects who the mutual ancestor is.

So, each of these children of James ? Graham has a DNA match for me.  The only thing "for sure" is that each of us matches DNA (I've blurred some of the photos for privacy reasons) and we have a common ancestor.  Several of us have speculated that James ? Graham is our ancestor, so Ancestry pulled us all together.  Now whether that common ancestor is James would require us all to match James' siblings.  Since we all only match at about a 5th-6th cousin level, that isn't really possible at this time unless we find a very strong strand of DNA. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

 That we all match at all,  is a miracle since I don't really have strong Graham genes.  His wife Sarah Broyles is where my strength is---I match her family for several more generations back.  James has a ?? because I was never very sure about him.

Also note that I am the only William Graham descendant on this and yet I know there are 31 of his descendants who match William.  Here are his children's descendants who have DNA matches:  Margaret (8), Theodore (2), Susan (5), James Madison (3), Mary Polly (11) and Thomas (2).

This means that the strand I match all of these under James, is not shared by the other 30 descendants of William.  They probably have different matches than I do.  DNA is so fickle.

Roy Long and Vivian Maupin: early 1900's

Roy and Vivian—

While attending a writing class at church, someone in the class had begun writing her family history with a story of how her grandparents met.  As almost the eldest in my family, I thought I’d better write more of my family stories also.

Grandpa Roy grew up in a Baptist farm family of 12 children outside of DeSoto  MO near Big River. His mother was the daughter of a German miner and his father was from a Jefferson County Mo. family that had been farming and mining there before statehood. Any schooling Grandpa had would have been in a one room country school.He was raised with hard work and chores, but  Roy broke  away from the family traditions of farming or mining  to work at Missouri Pacific Railroad shop in De Soto, MO as a welder/boilermaker.   He was tall with blond good looks and based on notes, postcards, and photos that he saved, he was well loved by the ladies in the area.

  

Grandma Vivian grew up in a Methodist-Episcopal family with 7 children in a large Victorian home in DeSoto Mo.  Her mother’s family was from England and my aunt remembers tea parties and lace-curtain- elegance.  Grandma was raised in a more privileged family that was also more fun-loving.  During the Depression, an uncle gave all of the girls in the family violins and the boys each got a dime to buy ice cream with.  My dad often told stories of riding in the rumble seat of his grandfather’s Packard. Vivian’s father was the foreman of the Missouri Pacific roundhouse and the family travelled often by train to St. Louis for shopping and to Kansas City and Texas where family lived. She was one of those women whose personality and kindness sparkled in her eyes.

I don’t know how they met—the only common thread was Roy worked in the Missouri-Pacific shops and Vivan’s father was the foreman of the  Missouri-Pacific roundhouse in the same small town of De Soto, Missouri..  Grandpa had turned many a female head, and Grandma was a small town aristocrat. . .  and the boss’s daughter.  I have no letters and no photos of them at this time.  World War I was looming.

Roy enlisted in the Army Air Corps, not realizing that Vivian was pregnant with dad (LeRoy). LeRoy Harold Long  was born Aug. 1918 while Grandpa was in France. While I do have post cards Roy sent his parents, there is no indication that he had become a father.  The post cards are letting his parents know that he had landed in New York and would be home soon.

And Vivian?  I have one photo of her at this time, standing in a large circle — she appears to be pregnant. So, she wasn’t sent away or locked in her room.  Based on the stories I have heard about her family, I believe she was loved and cherished.  Her parents were indulgent with their children, even when they were adults and married.  Great grandmother Annie was so beloved that many of her descendants still bear her name (mine is in the middle).  They were not stingy with their wealth and freely gave what they had to all of their children that needed it, especially in the Depression where they provided housing for any needing it including one of my aunts (Norma) who lived with them as a teen-ager.  So, I believe they did whatever they needed to keep her physically or emotionally healthy.

Roy was discharged from the army on March 27, 1919 and  got married on the same day.  The witnesses were Mamie and Leo Wilson—Vivian’s sister and brother-in-law. She was 20; he was 25. It's worth noting that Vivian's mother was one of the founding "mothers" of the Episcopal Church in DeSoto.  Roy's family were the backbone of their Baptist Church and yet they were married by the Justice of the Peace not in a church. That seemed to be pretty common at that time---at least in my  Dad's family.   I wish I had one photo of them together when they were young, but starting life together with a 7 month old boy was undoubtedly a big adjustment.

As far as any of us know, Grandpa, despite his reputation with the ladies, remained faithful in his marriage to Vivian.  They had 6 children (Milton died as a baby) and remained married for 32 years until she died in 1951. But, there must have been a little bit of embarrassment on someone’s part since I found their marriage certificate which is in contradiction to the “official marriage records” in Jefferson County, Missouri.  The 1919 had been changed to 1916.

For more on Roy and Vivian , click here. 

Jane Logan McKee

Jane Logan, born in Cumberland, Pennslyvania, was married to John McKee, immigrant from Ireland, by the time she was fourteen.  The pioneer couple settled near Kerrs Creek in land later known as Rockbridge County, Virginia.  It was heavily populated with Native American tribes, most especially the warlike Shawnee.  Several other families settled in the rich valley farmland too, such as the Gilmores, the Hamiltons, the Logans, the Erwins, the Norwoods, the Martins and the Cunninghams.  The McKees had seven children relatively quickly until tragedy struck.

According to a number of historical references, as well as legend, the settlers of Kerrs Creek suffered a number of casualties from at least two distinct Shawnee raids led by the famous Shawnee Chief, Cornstalk.  These raids took place near or concurrently with the French and Indian War (1756-1763) which was raging from Canada to New Orleans.  The Ottawa Tribe Chief Pontiac was successful in uniting the Native American tribes with the French, who made promises not to settle their land, against the British and their colonists pushing ever westward.  

On July 17, 1763, a smaller band of 27 braves attacked the individual farmsteads of Kerrs Creek.  According to one account, Jane, known as “Jenny,” and her husband John had sent their children to safety at Timber Ridge before the attack occurred.   They tried to slip out the back of their log cabin up the ridge behind their place, but Jenny was burdened with pregnancy and couldn’t run fast enough.  The Indians gained on the couple, at which time she urged her husband to run on ahead because their “children would have no parents” if he didn’t escape.  John hid Jenny in a sink hole and ran on.  He turned around in time to see the tomahawk take his wife’s life.  He managed to evade the braves, and returned later to find that his wife had survived long enough to tie a kerchief around her head to stem the wound.  He buried her where she lay, and noted her death in the family bible.  Another account has it that John was at a neighbor’s house attending sick children when the attack on his cabin occurred.  He returned home to find Jenny slain and scalped.  

Whatever the true account, John raised their children, and remarried.  Cornstalk, a tall and commanding historical figure, went on to become the chieftain of all of the Shawnee.  However, he reportedly had a change of heart later and decried all forms of warfare.  He tried to dissuade his tribe from joining the British against the colonists during the American Revolution.  He was murdered in 1777 (some say by several settlers from Kerrs Creek) while in American protective custody.  Supposedly, he had a premonition of his murder, and when the attack came, he bared his chest, offering it to seven rounds of gunshot.  

Thanks to ninastewartharrison who shared this in 2007 on Ancestry.com

Jane Logan McKee was my 7th Great-grandmother:  Alice Louise Wicker, James Wesley Wicker, Macy Alice Williams, Mary Ann Pullam, Ally Vaughn, Nancy Dyer, Gracie McKee, James Logan McKee, Jane Logan.
ninastewartharrison